What I do understand is that agents of the BLM killed some of Bundy's stock. I also understand Bundy made the mistake of speaking forthrightly in an interview that he did not need to grant. The NY Times then deceptively edited that interview to make Bundy look like a racist.
Go here to Pat Dollard's site and listen to the whole thing. Read what Dollard says about it:
And he’s not blaming blacks for the issues of abortions, and crime and broken families, he’s blaming the Feds. This is the exact opposite of a racist, this is an advocate for the welfare and best interests of blacks.
Understand that Bundy is using language which his age group was taught as being polite and respectful. Growing up, around my dad's hunting buddy, Mr. Davis, I was expected to use the term Colored, and that's how my friends, his sons, referred to themselves. Some might cringe at the remark about picking cotton, but, while I never picked it, members of my family did. It was honest work -- which is Bundy's point. People who do not have honest work to do may have a hard time developing self-respect, and without self-respect, it's much harder advance oneself academically and economically.
Look, I still don't know what the deal is as far as whether Bundy should have paid the fees or if the BLM is harassing ranchers to benefit Harry Reid, but I do know that if the Times attacks a person, he can't be all bad.
The government and their allies in the media will always emphasize something negative about the people they want to destroy. David Koresh was a nutjob, but that did not justify what was done to him and his followers by the ATF and the FBI. Randy and Vicki Weaver were not terribly wise people, but that does not justify the cold-blooded murder of a woman holding her infant child. Whatever Cliven Bundy's faults, it is time the federal government is put on notice that we the people do not have to take their high-handed crap. Might does not make right. Federal judges who have no respect for law, natural rights or individual liberty do not deserve our respect or obedience. Unelected bureaucrats with their ever-increasing regulation can be stopped.
They won't be if we are waiting for their next target to be Mother Theresa, and if it were Mother Theresa, the media would do a hit-piece to smear her. We are going to have to back flawed people if we want to turn this thing around.
People draining mudholes to build their houses, ranchers trying to make a living, farmers selling raw milk to people who want raw milk and understand what raw milk is are not the ones that are out of control. The government is out of control. The government needs to be checked. The government is destroying the economy, the financial system, agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare, the auto industry and everything else it touches.
You simply cannot believe the stuff that is spewed out by the mainstream media. They have no more qualms about telling out-and-out lies than Obama does.
You make a good point about 'backing flawed people'. We are all flawed people, although our faults are rarely obvious to ourselves. The Government agents mistake is to believe that their motives are pure and actions are perfect. They proceed with unquestioned 'moral authority'.
ReplyDeleteIt will take very brave and determined people to resist them.
Yes, it stuns me sometimes that people who have stood in line at the Department of Motor Vehicle can somehow continue to think the government is altruistic and compassionate. Was that you the other day that described government as a "blunt instrument"? It's like trying to do heart surgery with a ball peen hammer.
ReplyDeleteWe're not always going to fully agree or even like some of the people who wind up on "our side" of the line that an intrusive government decides to draw.
Hey, we are all about diversity and tolerance, right?
Yeah, I get his point about trading one type of "slavery" for another and the value of doing any type of work versus the soul destroying aspect of just sitting around and taking welfare. Bad choice of words on his part. But that was the thought crime the Left needed to villify him and de-legitimize his cause. Oh, well.
ReplyDeleteI want to support his cause but the whole grazing fees non-payment is a muddle. I can't go log a national forest without paying fees.
I guess the key issue in my mind is whether the Goverment deliberately raised fees and regulations to eliminate the ranchers. If so, then he gets my support.
Evidence to go along with your foreboding: Althouse references Maureen Dowd who attacks us via Bundy. Some of the comments are kind of surprising given the profile I assumed for Althouse readers.
ReplyDeleteI don't really see Bundy as a hero. His cause has served to rally support to let the federal government know that we might not roll over as easily as they would like. To me, Bundy as an individual is beside the point, and, to some extent, even the details of his squabble with the BLM don't really matter that much. My deal is that we either make a stand somewhere, or we passively accept ever more tyranny.
On a battlefield, you want to pick the most strategic point to make your stand -- Cemetery Ridge, that farmhouse at Waterloo or whatever. But what if the Confederates had had sufficient strength to hold the Union at Gettysburg while sending a force to capture Washington? Then the strategic high ground doesn't matter.
Same thing here. We may hold the moral high ground on some point, but the government may not choose to engage us on that. They find some weaker point and attack there. We've let them get by with that because there is a certain about of moral ambiguity involved, and we don't want to be accused of being unreasonable or treasonous or anything. So, we have lost a lot of ground.